Japan Commercial Robotics Forecast by Technology, 2017−2021

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Abstract

In 2016, the size of the Japan commercial robotics market (spending-based) totaled 914.7 billion yen. IDC predicts that the market will continue to grow at a CAGR of 18.3% from 2016 to 2021, and by 2021, the market size will reach 2.1236 trillion yen. In 2017, the commercial robotics market in general was driven by the industrial robot solution market as new trends emerged, including the efforts to render factories intelligent that were initiated by industrial robot suppliers and artificial intelligence (AI) venture businesses. In 2018 and later, product expansion to make applications intelligent will continue to drive the industrial robot solution market. This includes the AI segment. IDC also predicts that the service robot solution market will grow as proof of concepts (POCs) for unmanned delivery robots have begun in airports and distribution facilities.

This IDC study is a translation of the Japanese document IDC #JPJ42920318. It presents the Japan commercial robotics market performance in 2016 and spending forecast from 2017 to 2021. In 2016, the market focused on industrial robot solutions that were already deployed by many manufacturers. However, IDC predicts that the service robot solution market will also grow as it is expected the market will rise in 2017 and later. "Growth in demand for alternatives that stem from the emerging digital transformation and the decline in the labor force population has encouraged efforts to streamline and improve productivity by utilizing enterprise IT and robotics in the Japan commercial robotics market. On the other hand, the excessive expectation users have toward robotics and the shortage in consultants and suppliers with knowledge and know-how of both IT and robotics inhibit growth in this market. In such a market environment, IT suppliers should equip themselves with a framework that is able to provide support from assisting robotics implementation to operation using IT," says Shigehiro Fujimura, senior market analyst, Communications, IDC Japan.